The Fre@ks

   Jeffrey Yue

Jeffrey was awarded the Glaxo-Wellcome/EDB scholarship to pursue a degree in technical theatre at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Upon graduation, he returned as Sound Coordinator for the Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay, Singapore. He oversees day-to-day production requirements of the multi-venue performance arts centre with job scope spanning from design to operation.

With his focus on theatrical sound design and production engineering, Jeffrey has worked extensively in the UK and other parts of the world. Recent notable design works include Voyage de La Vie at the Festive Grand Theatre, Resort World Sentosa; the biggest show in town – NDP 2009; the world premiere of a Khmer rock opera, Where Elephant Weeps in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and also The King Lear Trilogy as part of the Kunsten Festival des Arts in Brussel, Belgium. Jeffrey continues to work with a plethora of directors/artists including Ong Keng Sen, Li Xie, Guo Jing Hong, Ho Tzu Nyen, Fran Borgia, Choy Ka Fai and Samantha Scott-Blackhall. Jeffrey also collaborated with three times Golden Horse Award winner, Lim Giong, from Taiwan on the Sound Seed Project commissioned, as part of the Huayi Festival, by the Esplanade. Jeffrey was the associate designer for the world premiere of Les Liaisons Dangereuses by acclaimed choreographer, Adam Cooper in Tokyo. This was followed by a month long tour of Japan and to the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Other associate credits include Arsenic and Old Lace at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London and Peter Pan in Manila, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei.

As a Production Sound Engineer, recent works included Diaspora, by TheatreWorks featuring the 70-piece Singapore Chinese Orchestra and electronic music composer Toru Yamanaka at the Edinburgh International Festival; the world premiere of Butterflies, another large scale musical at the Beijing Poly Theater, China; Invisible Room as part of Theater De Welt, Mulheim, Germany.

He was assistant production sound engineer on several large-scale London West End productions like My Fair Lady and Anything Goes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane; My One and Only at the Piccadilly Theatre.

Jeffrey is no stranger to the demands of touring sound production. Touring works include Yellow Monkey in South Korea; Vivien and the Shadows, USA; Continuum – Beyond the Killing Fields in Turkey and Australia; Goldfish is meant for dying by Rudi Jensen in Sweden; a three-month long UK and Asia (including Malaysia, Hong Kong and China) tour covering 16 cities of the Faraday Tour. Other touring works include the musical Saturday Night Fever at the Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland and the epic production of The Magic Flute at the Pavílhao Atlántico Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.

As an educator, Jeffrey teaches and develops the curriculum for the ‘Performance Sound’ module as part of the diploma/degree Technical Theatre Arts programme at the Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore. He is also an Artist-In-Residence of the acclaimed Hong Kong Academy of Performance Arts with the Entertainment, Design and Technology department.

   Wee Cheng (aka Wee)

Wee joined Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay as a lighting technician from 2002 – 2007, before venturing out as a lighting and multimedia programmer/designer for theatre productions, events and concerts. Wee went on to start his own programming and design company called Ctrl Fre@k in 2010 with his business partner.

Wee was the lighting programmer for Robert Wilson’s In The Evening at Koi Pond at Aichi World Expo 2005, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic (Manchester International Festival 2011), Via Crucis (Weimar Arts Festival 2012) and Adam’s Passion (Eesti Konsert). Other notable programming credits include National Day Parade 2005 and 2009, Voyage De La Vie (The Generating Company).

Wee’s multimedia credits include Share the Hope – a façade projection mapping show for National Gallery Singapore, LKY Musical (Metropolitan Productions) and Julius Caesar (Singapore Repertory Theatre). He was the Multimedia Technical Manager for Singapore’s National Day Parade 2014.

From co-designing lights for Singapore Evening (APEC 2009), Wee later took on main design roles for Korean Pop Night Concert 2010, Imagine – A Soundtrack of Peace music concert and Praying Mantis by Vision Of The Dance from Spain. His multimedia design credits: Soul Journey – Ten Years (Siong Leng Musical Association), Flash: Back/Forward (Esplanade’s 10th year anniversary), Farewell – The Body In 16 Chapters (Drama Box) and Rising Son (Singapore Repertory Theatre).

Wee also designed and implemented the Show Control, Lighting and Multimedia system for the Singapore Bicentennial Experience at Fort Canning.